Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-08-20

And II l were to say yes, how would that
help him" she cried, wildly. .He Is con.
demned by your court martial-you would
only deceive me and murder him after all.n
Q my honor, no. Before the marriage I
will give this warrant to the pastor, and he
shall burn 1t as soon as the service is said,
But, Bessie, don't you see that those fools who
tried your uncle are only like clay in my
handss lean bend them this way and that,
and whatever the song I sing they will echo
1t. They do not wish to shoot your uncle,
and will be glad, indeed, to get out of it.
Your uncle shall go in safety to Natal, or
stay here if he wills. His property shall be
secured for him, and compensation paid for
the burning Of his house. I swear it before
God"
She looked up at him, and he could see that
she was inclined to believe him.
ut is true, Bessie, it Is true~I will rebuild
tho place myself, and il I can find the man
who fired it he shall be shot Come, listen to
me, and DO reasonable. The man you loved
IS dead, and no amount Of signing can bring
him to your armA alone am left, who
love you better than life, better thar man
ever loved q m before. Look at me, am
l not a proper man for any maid to wed,
though I be bali a Boer? And I nave tho
brains, too. Bessie, the brains that shall make
US both great. We were made for each other
Il have known it for years, and slowly.
slowly, I have worked my way to you till at
last you are in my reach" and he stretched
out both his arms toward her.
MY darling" he went on, in o soft, half
dreamy voice, my love and my desire, yield,
.now-yield! Do not force this new crime
upon me. l want to grow good for your sake,
ana have done with bloodshed. When you
are my wife I believe that the evil will go
out of me, and I shall grow good. Yield, and
never shall woman have had such a husband
as I viii be to you. will make your life
soft and beautiful to you as women love life
to be. You shall have everything that money
can buy and power bring. Yield for ysur
uncle's sake, and for the sake Of the great
love l bear you"
AS he spoke he was slowly drawing nearer
Bessie, whose face wore q half fascinated ex-
preston. As he came the wretched woman
gathered herself together and put out her
hand to repulse him. mo. no" she cried, II
hate you'll cannot be false to him, living or
dead. l shall kill myself know 1 shall"
he made no answer, but simply came
always nearer, till at last his strong arms
closed round her shrinking form and drew
her to him as easily as though she were a
babe. And then all at once she seemed to
yield. That embrace was tho outward sign
OF bis cruel mastery, and she struggled no
more, mentally or physically.
"Win you marry me, darling-will you
marry meP' he whispered, with his lips SO
Close to the golden curls that jess, straining
her ears outside, could only just catch the
words:
ooh, I suppose 80; but I shall die-it will
kill me-"
He strained her to his heart and kissed her
beautifulface again and again. and next mo-
ment jess heard the footsteps of the return
ing sentry and saw him leave 60 Of her.
Jantje, too, caught her by the hand and
dragged her away from tho wall, and in ten
seconds more she was once more ascending
the hillside toward the Hottentot's kennel.
She had gone to find out how matters lay,
and she had, indeed, found out. To attempt
to portray the fury, the indignation and the
thirst to be avenged upon the fiend who had
attempted to murder her and her lover, and
had bought her dear sisters honor at the
price of her innocent old uncle's life, would
be impossible. All her WEAKNESS was forgot
ten; she was mad with what she had seen and
heard, with the knowledge Of what had been
done and b was about to be done. She
even forget her passion in it, and swore that
Muller should never marry Bessie while she
lived to prevent it. Had she been a bad
woman she might have seen herein an oppor-
tunlty, for Bessie once married to Muller.
John would be free to marry her, but the
idea never even entered her mind. What.
ever Jess errors may have been, she was a
self sacrificing, honorable woman, and would
have died rather than take such an advan.
tage. Presently they reached the shelter
again and crept in.
Light a candle" said Jess.
Jantje fumbled about and finally struck a
match. The bit Of candle they had been
using, however, was nearly burned out, 80
from the rubbish in tho corner he produced Q
box full of @ends," some of them three or
four inches long. jess, in that queer sort of
way in which triies do strike US when the
mind is undergoing a severe strain, instantly
remembered that for years she had been un-
able to discover What became of the odd
pieces Of the candles used in the house, Now
the mystery was explained.
snow go outside and leave me. want to
think"
The Hottentot obeyed, and, seated there
upon the heap Of skins, her forehead resting
on her hand and her fingers run through her
silky hair, now wet with the rain, she began
to review the position. It was evident to her
that Frank Muller would be as good a. his
word. She knew him too we'll to doubt it for
q moment. If Bessie did not marry him he
would murder the old man, as he had tried to
murder her and John, only this time judi
clally, and then abduct her afterward.
Bessie was the only price that he was pre-
pared to take in exchange for her uncle's
life. But it was impossible to allow Bessie to
be so sacrificed: the thought was horrible to
her.
How, then, Yves it to be prevented? She
thought again Of going down and confronting
Frank Muller, and openly accusing him of her
attempted murder, only, however, to dismiss
the idea. Who would believe her, and If they
did believe, what good would IL dot She
would only be imprisoned and kept out of
harms way, OF possibly murdered without
further ado. Then she thought Of attempting
to communicate with her uncle and Bessie, to
tell them that join was, 20 far as she know,
alive, only to recognise the impossibility of
doing Sc now that the sentry was back. Be-
sides, what object could DO serveda The
knowledge that John was ahve might, it is
true, nerve up Bessie to resist Muller, but
then the sole result would be that the old man
would he shot. Diminishing this from her
mind, she began to consider whether they
could obtain assistance. Alas! it was i'm.
possible. The only people from whom she
could hope for help would be the natives, and
now that the Beers had triumphed over the
English for this much she had gathered from
her captors and from Jantje), it was very
doubtful if they would dare to help her. Be-
sides, at the best, it would take twenty-four
hours to collect a force, and that would be too
late. The thing was hopeless. Nowhere